But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10).
To a church full of believers, Paul wrote to remind them of that which he considered to be of first importance…that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…(1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Foundational to our faith is the message of this good news, a message Paul received from the Lord himself (I Corinthians 11:23). Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.
Two weeks ago our elders communicated with our church family that we are making a commitment to a more organized and better effort in shepherding the people of God at Patterson Park. In our worship services on Sunday, January 22, we began a short series of sermons on the subject of Shepherding God’s Flock.
Making resolutions for the New Year is a common practice for many of us. Many of our resolutions are an attempt at correcting bad habits of the past year. One web site suggests that the most common New Year’s Resolutions are related to eating habits, physical exercise, financial and time management, etc. For most of us, changes in regard to bad habits in those areas will be healthy and productive.
In his moment of weakness, Peter, who affirmed his love for Christ and boldly stated that he would die for Christ, denied being his disciple. His denial is puzzling. It does not appear that the girl who asked him was a threat of some sort; that there was some impending danger to him should he acknowledge that he belonged to Christ. Yet, in the moment, he denied knowing Christ. None of us plan to yield to temptation. We all believe that, should the occasion arise where we are forced to acknowledge or deny Christ, we will gladly and confidently acknowledge that we belong to Christ; that we are his followers.
On Sunday, October 2, Patterson Park Church will dedicate its new worship center. Services will be held at 9:00 and 10:30 am. We hope that you will plan on being a part of the historic day in the life of Patterson Park Church.
Below is the quote of Tullian Tchvidijian I used yesterday the sermon: I trust it is helpful. The statement is from an article he wrote entitled, "Do You Doubt Yourself? Good."
The following is an excerpt from The Root of Riches by Chuck Bentley one of our members sent me this past week. Bentley captures the heart of the relationships we have with each other as members of the body of Christ with his analogy.
David reminded us in the sermon Sunday that as believers we are to learn to “suffer well.” For many this seems like a strange statement. For the believer, this is a view of life we understand. We have watched many dear friends at Patterson Park suffer well recently; individuals suffering with terminal illnesses; families who have lost loved ones to disease; individuals who in desperate times of need have trusted God and demonstrated incredible faith and perseverance. These all understand that the sovereign God reigns over all things and makes no mistakes.
Paul often spoke of this incredible relationship we have within the body of Christ. The terminology, "body of Christ," indicates a connectedness as well as relationship. We belong to each other. As much as we are in union with Christ, we are in union with each other. This becomes evident when one member of the body hurts and others rise to the occasion to share in their hurts, sorrows, sicknesses, needs, etc.
